Barcelo Capella Beach Resort Hotel Santo Domingo

... entitled, we feel jipped if we miss a dessert or have to forgo some of our creature comforts... (thankfully the coffee is pretty good down here).  I have been touched by the tangible quality of love that these missionaries exude in their service, their willingness to wade into problems that have no easy, quick solution and the very real presence of Christ that emanates from them. Thankfully missions has evolved a bit since our less ...

Hello once again, Things continue to go well down here in the Dominican Republic. Since the last update, I've acquired many more Spanish words and many more mosquito bites. The mosquitoes here are crafty: I can't hear them or see them. The only evidence of their existence are the new itchy spots I wake up with every morning! The streets continue to flood every time it rains. A bit of Hurricane Omar passed through yesterday evening, and within minutes after the rain ...

... Corps for years. She is the sweetest woman who constantly offers me coffee and food. I accept, of course. She also lives with two of her 10 children. Two sons in their thirties that are very nice and accepting of me. One of them offered to bring me to play poker with his friends on Saturday. I asked if money was involved and he said no, so I said yes. Mosquiteros: I sleep under a huge mosquito net, not unlike a see-through tent ...

... However, we learnt that "tea" to some literally means tea. Chi thought he was going out for a cup of tea and had made other plans to go out for "dinner". We had a lot of fun going through words and phrases commonly used in NZ but not much elsewhere. He laughed to himself when the next morning we said " coming to breakfast?" and he replied, " breakfast means breakfast, right?". We smiled. Jun has been on the road for 4 years and is finally making his way home after a ...

... A man named Elio Modonnia was on vacation here years back and wanted to help build homes- then he could't leave because more and more donation money poured into his lap and one became another one and now- Nazaret is the 7th village he's been responsible for. Jana and her husband Dr. Bob are missionaries here as well. We're staying at Jana and Dr. Bob's house- and working alongside Elio and his ...

We spent most of the afternoon in Boca Chica, a local beach which serves as a popular getaway and hangout for people in the capital. Though I've attempted to avoid allowing my ordeal to ruin my trip and bias my opinion of this country, my day at the beach was just a reminder of how common the swindles and robberies are. The grilled tilapia I ordered for $9 came with rice and a mess of scroungy lettuce and tomatoes ...

... are just very loving and sharing of whatever they have and want you to be a part of their lives, which I love and am looking forward to getting to my permanent site! We got to go dancing on Saturday, which is always an experience for me, because you all know that I have little abilities with this, but I am really trying and am slowly getting better! You just can't get through a day here without dancing it seems, and I have ...

... have all these plans to take me site seeing through the whole country, which is really nice. Also they own a house 2 doors down that they are willing to let me live in rent free. Its in really good condition...so I am happy about that as well. At my site visit I got to visit Monte Cristi, which is supposebly the oldest city in the DR. Some old victorian houses are still standing. There, I also got to see the Morro, which is this huge boulder-cliff rock ...

It finally begins to hit me....that wretched unavoidable tyrant known as the "one year hump". I am told that all volunteers go through it, and that makes me feel a little more assured that my frustration does not mean I have been posessed by evil spirits afterall. The most frustration comes with my inability to motivate my Escojo groups and have a normal meeting which doesn't end in me yelling. When traveling out to Los Limones, I was confronted by ...